1. Field of the invention
The present invention relates in general to remote surveillance and data communications. More particularly, the present invention relates to multi-channel recording and transmission of video, audio, and other data in order to provide for real-time monitoring both in transportation vehicles and from external facilities.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
Public transportation systems utilize transportation vehicles, such as aircraft, ships, trains, buses, and the like. The systems routinely carry a large number of passengers on pre-determined routes. The security of these systems is paramount if public safety is to be maintained in the event of an attack or other unexpected incident. Public transportation systems comprise mobile units, such as transportation vehicles that contain passengers and transportation personnel, such as pilots, flight attendants, drivers, inspectors, and the like, and one or more fixed-location command facilities. Typically, a radio communication network provides voice and data communication between the mobile units and the command and control centers. The mobile units may transmit status data, such as geographic location, heading, speed, engine and fuel data, and the like, over the radio communications network on a fixed or on-demand basis.
In land-based public transportation systems the availability of fixed routes enable the positioning of fixed image acquiring devices and other sensor devices along the routes in order to provide useful data to the command and control facilities. The data regards the location and the status of the mobile units and can be viewed in real-time or can be recorded for later replay and analysis.
Other types of public service vehicles, such as police cars, fire engines, ambulances, search and rescue helicopters, and the like, are also part of a public safety and security system. These vehicles provide rapid assistance in the event of an attack or other unexpected incident. These vehicles may also be the subject of an attack or incident. These mobile units also employ a radio communication network that communicates voice and other data to and from the command and control center. The mobile units also transmit status data, such as geographic location, heading, speed, engine and fuel data, and the like, over the radio network on a fixed or on-demand basis. It is essential that these mobile units receive accurate, comprehensive and timely information, using video, voice and other data transmissions from the command and control facilities concerning the incident to be handled in order to provide optimal assistance.
Many road networks are equipped with image acquiring devices, such as CCTV camera systems and other sensors that may send data back to the command and control facilities. The data may provide additional information about the location and the status of mobile units. The data may be viewed in real-time or may be recorded for later replay and analysis.
In non-land-based public transportation systems sophisticated on-board sensor devices are typically installed in the mobile transportation units, such as in aircraft and in ships. The function of the sensor devices is to provide human-readable status data to the operating crews of the transportation units and to provide machine-readable control data to on-board computing and control devices. The mobile units could further include multimedia data acquiring devices, such as CCTV camera systems, microphone arrays and other sensors in order to provide video, audio and other types of monitoring capabilities, respectively, to the operating crews of the mobile units. The airborne or maritime mobile units typically employ a radio communication network that communicates voice and other data to and from a ground-based or land-based command and control center, such as a flight control tower or a seaport command and control center. The mobile units may transmit status data, such as geographic location, heading, speed, engine and fuel data, and the like, over the associated radio network on a fixed or on-demand basis.
Currently systems monitoring transportation vehicles, such as ships, trains, buses, and the like, have several disadvantages. The primary drawback concerns the lack of means and capabilities for “handing over control” to external facilities, such as command and control centers, in order to provide event monitoring, event recording and event analysis for the transportation device, externally.
The tragic events that took place on 11 Sep. 2001 had demonstrated this drawback alongside with other disadvantages. Several critically weak links in flight security were exposed including the following facts: a) flight crew in the flight deck of an aircraft is unaware of events occurring in passenger cabins, unless notified by the cabin crew; b) alarm triggered from an aircraft cannot reach a ground-based command and control center when the radio communications with the flight crew is interrupted; c) command and control center personnel are perplexed when anomalies, such as a communication interruption with the flight crew, or a sudden unexplained changes in the flight path occurs during the flight; and d) command and control center personnel lack the capability to monitor in-flight events as they occur in real-time. The same drawbacks exist with other vehicles of transport, such as ships, trains, buses and the like.
For example, presently, when an emergency situation develops on board an aircraft, the only means of communication between the aircraft and the Air Traffic Control center (ATC) is via the associated radio communication network. The communication link provided by the network is substantially limited to ATC facilities in the vicinity of the aircraft. The radio link must be maintained by the aircrew simultaneously with the handling of other urgent tasks related to the emergency. The prior art does not provide means and capabilities for handing over control to provide external event monitoring, event recording, and event analysis to a remote command and control center or other relevant parties. Except for audio transmissions no other real time data is available for analysis either on board of the aircraft or on the ground. The situation is further complicated when concurrent incidents occur on the aircraft, while real-time data is absent in the flight deck or at the command and control center for immediate analysis and for the performance of suitable actions. In addition, in cases where the aircraft crashes substantial resources and time is invested in the location of the flight recorder device in order to analyze the data saved therein. In cases where the location of the flight recorder device is impractical, or the flight recorder device is substantially damaged even this minimal data is lost.
Therefore, there is an urgent need for real-time monitoring of video, audio and other data transmissions from multiple mobile units and multiple fixed sources at one or more command and control centers. There is a further urgent need for recording the transmissions and being able to redistribute as well as rapidly search and replay one or more recording segments at one or more command and control centers in near real-time in order to provide assistance in the handling of the incident. There is a further need to replay one or more recording segments to other mobile units via a radio network to assist in the management of the incident. There is a further need to search and to replay particular combinations of the recordings in combination with other collected data in order to assist in the post-event investigation, analysis, re-construction and debriefing.